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SearchToday in Islamophobia: The Gates Foundation is criticized over award to Modi, as an influential U.S scientist comes under fire for ties to Xinjiang. A new exhibit in Washington, D.C, depicts the War on Terror from a Muslim perspective. Our recommended read of the day in on Xinjiang and China’s “war on Uighur culture.” This, and more, below:
China
Fear and oppression in Xinjiang: China’s war on Uighur culture | Recommended Read
The Uighurs, who are mostly Muslim, make up nearly half of Xinjiang’s 24 million population. Scholars estimate that about 1.5 million Uighurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Hui and other mostly Muslim minorities have been interned in camps that the government describes as aiming to “transform through education”, while hundreds of thousands more have been arrested and jailed. During the crackdown, it has become almost impossible for Uighurs to leave Xinjiang to study or live abroad, due to a rigorous process of checks by the police before they can be granted a passport. Uighurs who have fled Xinjiang fear being deported back to China, as governments have come under pressure from it to return overseas Uighurs to Xinjiang. Most western governments have said they will not send anyone who would face abuse in the Xinjiang camp system back to China, giving Uighurs like Asqar some safety to speak out about their relatives’ fate. read the complete article
Influential US scientist under fire for Xinjiang links
As revealed by Coda Story last month, Anil K. Jain, the head of Michigan State University’s Biometrics Research Group, traveled to Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi in August 2018 and gave a speech about facial recognition at the Chinese Conference on Biometrics Recognition (CCBR). Jain was also on the CCBR’s advisory board and was pictured receiving an honorary certificate. Jain is regarded as one of the world’s most influential computer scientists and a pioneer in areas of pattern recognition and biometric recognition systems. Biometrics played a prominent role in the government-led “anti-terror” crackdown which saw hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs detained in re-education camps. Facial recognition, DNA collection, iris scans, and other methods of surveillance became ubiquitous. read the complete article
United States
Muslim family gets $1 bill stamped with 'No Muslim Immigrants in USA!'
Atiya Hasan said her son found the stamped bill when he went to get some cash from her purse. "He brought it to me and said, 'Mom, look at this,'" she said. "It actually says, 'No Muslim Immigrants in USA!'" "My kids were in tears. They don't know any other place. This is home to them. This is home to us," Hasan said. Hasan said they were stunned by the anti-Muslim message. "My heart burned at that time, it just burned. I was sad and overwhelmed but also so angry," she said. read the complete article
This Is Life for Muslim-Americans 18 Years After 9/11
American olymic athlete, Ibtihaj Muhammad's book, The Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family depicts an African-American Muslim girl wearing a hijab and confronting the challenges and celebrating the joys that brings. Muhammad recalled that as a kid growing up in New Jersey before 9/11, she was taunted for wearing a hijab, with one kid calling her head covering a “tablecloth,” and said she hopes her book can help kids “feel strong in the face of being made to feel different.” She added something that I know resonates with countless Muslim Americans today, “I believe it’s a lot harder in this moment to be Muslim…than it was right after 9/11.” read the complete article
US: New exhibition depicts 'war on terror' from Muslim eyes
Organised by the Justice for Muslims Collective (JMC), a Washington-based coalition that challenges structural Islamophobia, the temporary exhibition featured a visual timeline depicting how US policies and programmes implemented since the 11 September attacks have harmed Muslims both in the US and abroad. A work of art for each year between 2001 and 2019 was on display in a room at the True Reformer Building, a community space on U Street, a historic thoroughfare that is often referred to as the heart of African-American culture in the country. read the complete article
United Kingdom
Man denies attacking five mosques in Birmingham in a day
A man has denied causing at least £11,500 of damage to five mosques that had their doors and windows smashed on the same day. Arman Rezazadeh, 34, appeared at Birmingham magistrates court on Thursday, pleading not guilty to five charges of racially or religiously aggravated criminal damage committed on 21 March. A district judge was told the charges related to damage to the Witton Islamic Centre, the al-Habib Trust, and the Jamia Masjid Ghausia, all in the Aston area, as well as the Masjid Madrassa Faizul Islam in Perry Barr and the Jam-E-Masjid Qiblah Hadhrat Sahib Gulhar Shareef in Erdington. read the complete article
India
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation under fire over award for Narendra Modi
The award comes amid growing criticism of the disenfranchisement, detention and deportation of Muslims in Assam and Kashmir. Alleged human rights violations in the two states under the governing Bharatiya Janata party have made front pages around the world. On Tuesday, a group of south Asian Americans working in philanthropy wrote an open letter to the Gates Foundation alleging that Modi had effectively confined millions to their communities, and urging the organisation to rescind the award. read the complete article
My son is one of Kashmir’s ‘disappeared’. When will India tell the truth about their fate?
Nothing can make you used to the terror of nocturnal raids by security forces. It was 18 August 1990, and we were living in Srinagar, at the height of an uprising against the Indian occupation. In the early hours of the morning, a neighbour came to tell us that my son Javaid, only 16 years old, had been taken away by the National Security Guard – one of many paramilitary forces operated by the Indian government in the valley. read the complete article
Bangladesh
Doctor And Nurse Helping Rohingya Refugees At Refugee Camp In Bangladesh; ‘We Should Not Be Turning Away’
Tracy Ibgui, a registered nurse from Clarendon Hills, traveled to the world’s largest refugee camp in Bangladesh, to help victims of what the United Nations calls a genocide; mass killings of Rohingya Muslims by the government in Myanmar. The depravity that caused more than 1 million Rohingya to flee from Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh haunts Ibgui, a mother of two. “There were definitely stories of throwing the children in a fire, and then forcing the mother to watch, and then afterwards violating her and then letting her go so she had to live with the memory of watching her child burn,” she said. read the complete article